Murder probes continue around the clock in Salem County

SALEM — Authorities continued around-the-clock investigations this weekend as they sought to solve two murders which took place in the county late last week.

“The investigations are ongoing and we are actively following up on lead as they come in,” Salem County Prosecutor John T. Lenahan said Saturday evening.

The prosecutor urged anyone with information to contact authorities.

The victims in the two homicide victims were found less than 12 hours apart on Thursday, one in his Salem home and the other in a vacant lot in Penns Grove.

Authorities say the killings are not connected, but as Lenahan said, “a terrible coincidence.”

At 9:28 a.m. Thursday, the body of Angel Montes, 31, was discovered in his house at 21 Eighth St. in Salem City.

Montes died of multiple gunshot wounds, Lenahan said.

His body was found by friends who had come to his home.

At 9:08 p.m. Thursday, Carikin Hudson, 39, of Madole Place in Penns Grove, was found stabbed to death in a lot on Cumberland Avenue. His body was covered in blood.

A neighbor who lives near the lot where Hudson’s body was discovered heard an argument and called Penns Grove Police. When officers arrived at the scene, Hudson was found dead in the lot.

The prosecutor’s office and police from Salem and Penns Grove along with the New Jersey State Police are investigating the cases.

The two murders shocked the county for in 2009 there had not been one homicide.

Anyone who has information concerning the murder of Montes is asked to contact Fred Parkell at the Salem County Prosecutor’s Office at (856) 769-3508 or Detective Michael Pelura at the Salem City Police Department at (856) 935-0033.

Anyone with information on the death of Hudson is asked to call Salem County Prosecutor’s Office Lt. Dave Corman at (856) 769-3508 or Penns Grove Police at (856) 299-0055.